Chivas owner just says no to San Diego

Chivas of Guadalajara plays Spanish giant Real Madrid on Wednesday night at Qualcomm Stadium in an international soccer friendly, and Chivas owner Jorge Vergara is expected to be in town.

And the whispers no doubt will circulate anew: Major League Soccer’s Chivas USA, which Vergara also owns, is looking to leave The Home Depot Center in Carson and maybe he’s dipping his toe in the waters ahead of a move to San Diego.

Because, after all, here’s what Chivas USA vice president Rodrigo Morales told the Sporting News in May: “We are sharing our home with the Galaxy, and we need to move. I don’t know when and where, but it’s very likely that we will be moving soon to our own home, and it has to be in Southern California. This is a huge market for us.”

There also was the exhibition between Chivas and Chivas USA at Petco Park last September, which fueled speculation of the Padres partnering with the MLS club to share a stadium with a minor-league affiliate in North County.

So it’s all starting to come together, right?

Apparently not.

Here’s what Vergara himself said about the prospects of relocating Chivas USA to San Diego during a media teleconference to promote Wednesday’s game:

“Not at all. Completely, 100 percent no.”

Vergara, remember, already considered San Diego for Chivas USA once. MLS offered him two markets for his expansion franchise in 2005: Houston and San Diego. He immediately said no to Houston, then carefully considered San Diego – even flying a delegation here to tour Qualcomm Stadium and meet city officials – before opting to share the Los Angeles market with the L.A. Galaxy.

“The first option I was offered from MLS was San Diego,” Vergara said earlier this month. “I refused it. I didn’t want to go to San Diego. I wanted to go to LA, and I’m completely sure, 100 percent, we want to stay in LA. We’ve invested a lot of money in Los Angeles. We’re going to stay in L.A. forever and ever.”

Where in L.A. remains a mystery. Chivas USA continues to draw sparse crowds at The Home Depot Center, and the thinking is a new home would get the club out of the Galaxy’s shadow and help establish its own identity.

“We have three or four options, and we’re making a thorough analysis of each,” Morales told MLSsoccer.com recently. “These options are not public right now, but we can move only once … If you move twice, you’re dead.”